Abstract

This article re-examines the profession of the late antique mechanikos, whois identified as a practising architect with a sound liberal arts education as wellas practical training. Despite the practical orientation of his profession, themechanikos was of high social standing. This was possible because the practicalutility of a vocation was increasingly acknowledged favourably in late antiquity and is reflected in early Byzantine portrayals of patrons, who allegedlyinvested hard labour in prestigious building campaigns and posed as thesupreme architects